Fish Feel Pain

Fish Feel Pain - Studies throughout the world by leading scientists, over more than 20 years, have proven this.

Fish feel pain in the same way as we do, as dogs and cats do - and to go fishing is to inflict terrible pain and suffering on a living, feeling animal.

Imagine eating your breakfast and a huge hook is suddenly pulled through your cheek and you are dragged bleeding and struggling out of your home on a length of rope.

If you can imagine what that would be like - that is what anglers do to fish just for 'fun'.

Anglers Deliberate Cruelty - Lakes are stocked with fish by anglers, there are more fish than the natural food supply in the lake can support. This is deliberate so that fish have to 'take the bait' to stay alive and the same fish are caught over and over again - each time going through agonies. Some have their mouths so badly torn and ripped that they are unable to feed and then slowly starve to death, others quickly learn to avoid the bait and progressively starve. Fish feel the pain of their mouths being torn apart in the same way that other animals do.

We must All step up our Activity Now

• Keep the pressure on the Government.
• Educate the public about angling cruelty
• Persuade Anglers to stop fishing.
• Show Children how cruel angling is.
• Get the message into more classrooms. (Find out what You can do in the Campaigns section)

Angler's 'Science' Discredited
A recent attempt by a scientist in the USA, who is a keen angler, to try and prove that fish do not feel pain has been met with scorn.
His 'study' has been described as " 'spurious science' which the author has not dared have 'independently examined by people in his own specialist field as opposed to publishing in a journal dedicated to general coverage of fisheries issues.".

But the Real Science proves beyond any doubt that Fish Feel pain and there is no doubt that angling is inflicting cruelty on hundreds of thousands of fish every day.

Scientific Studies throughout the world, have shown fish to be greatly underestimated; they have highly developed intelligence & social functions. Studies from the University of Utrecht in the 1970s clearly showed that fish have the ability to feel pain. Others have shown that fish have similar physiological structures as humans for sensing pain

Fish Feel Pain.
In an article in The Adelaide Advertiser, Professor Bill Runciman, professor of anaesthesia and intensive care at Adelaide University, was quoted as saying: "Fish constitute the greatest source of confused thinking and inconsistency on earth at the moment with respect to pain. You will get people very excited about dolphins because they are mammals, and about horses and dogs, if they are not treated properly. At the same time you will have fishing competitions on the River Murray at which thousands of people snare fish with hooks and allow them to asphyxiate on the banks, which is a fairly uncomfortable and miserable death.

" Since fish have the same nerve endings, the same chemicals for transmitting and blocking pain, and the same receptor sites for anxiety-reducing chemicals as mammals, it is absolute nonsense to suggest that fish do not feel pain or fear.

• Fish Feel Pain · If fish can't show their pain, how can we know whether they feel pain at all? There is very strong scientific evidence to show that they do.
• Fish have nerve endings near the skin which are very similar to those of humans and other mammals. We all have receptor cells (called nociceptors) near the skin, which are stimulated by events severe enough to cause damage to body tissues. The lips and mouth of fish are particularly well supplied with nerve endings.
• Fish produce the same pain-transmitting chemicals as humans.There are two main chemicals involved. When a nerve ending is damaged, a substance called bradykinin is released. This causes the nerve cell to fire, sending an electrical impulse along the nerve. When bradykinin is released near the skin, a second chemical, called substance P, is released near the spinal cord.Both substances are known to be involved in transmitting pain. For example, if bradykinin is injected into humans, it causes intense pain, even if a local anaesthetic is used. Both bradykinin and substance P are found in mammals, birds, frogs and fish.
• Fish produce the same pain-blocking substances as humans. When in severe pain, humans and other vertebrates (animals with backbones) produce pain-killing chemicals called endorphins. These endorphins block pain by stopping the release of substance P.

Fish Feel Anxiety
For any chemical to be able to affect our brain, there must be special areas in the brain, called receptor sites, to which the chemical can attach. Fish, like mammals, have receptor sites for anxiety-reducing chemicals, such as the valium group of drugs. Dr Andrew Rowan, a Dean of Veterinary Science, has said: "This suggests that most vertebrates are capable of experiencing a form of anxiety which is physiologically similar to that seen in humans."